Unlikely Alliances
by Lady Lu Bu
Summary: HELP. THe word that can bring old enemies together and make them friends. Rated R for later chapters, Kabuto fans STAY AWAY! I bash him lots. Please read and review! My first Naruto story! YAY!


UNLIKELY ALLIANCES

Disclaimer: Ok! I own nothing to do with Naruto except my Gaara 'I love Death' hoodie of which I am stupidly proud.

Just read. This chapter is a short 'un just to set the scene… It's kinda comedy-ish because I don't like totally depressing stories. Hell, just read it… It's set six years after Orochimaru stole Sasuke…

THE LETTER

'Damn, damn, damn!' Uchiha Sasuke swore, slamming his hand against the table in frustration. 'I just can't do it, master. I can't…'

'Don't be too hard on yourself, Sasuke.' Orochimaru managed a smile, despite the intense pain he was feeling at the moment. Sasuke had been trying a strange new jutsu to transfer his sharingan over to his master without losing them himself. It hadn't worked. Orochimaru was steadily going blind through all the transfers. Sasuke was always ALMOST there, but never quite managed the last bit of the jutsu, leaving his master with eyes that were getting whiter and whiter at every attempt. 'There are plenty more opportunities.'

'But I'm blinding you! I can't keep getting it wrong. I don't want you to lose your sight because of my incompetence.' Sasuke angrily pulled his Sound forehead protector off and slammed it on the workbench. 'Nobody is here to help us if anything goes wrong.'

'If the worst came to the worst, there is always the other option, the one reason I brought you here initially.' Orochimaru sat up, blinking his eyes. The room was to him smoky in colour, and Sasuke was just a blur. 'If I lost my sight, I could take over your body…'

'…But neither of us want that.' Sasuke shivered. When he had first been brought here, six years ago, he had been the intended vessel for a body transfer. But Orochimaru had fallen for the boy, and changed his plans, wishing to raise him as a son. He had recognised the same traits in Sasuke that he himself had had at that age – bitterness, a desire for revenge and above all, a dark heart. Over the years, the other Sound ninja had got fed up with their master lavishing attention on Sasuke, who just seemed to spend his time moping around, and they had left, forming their own village. The only one who had stayed was Kimimaro, but he had died soon after the others had left.

Orochimaru stood up and put his hand out to steady himself. His arms were functional once again, but any attempt at a jutsu left him in agony. 'I think we should lay off the techniques for a while,' he said, blinking again. The room swam for a second before coming back into dazzling focus. His eyes were green again, but still whiteness lingered in the iris. He sighed. 'I am going to bed, Sasuke. Please make sure the snakes are comfortable before you turn in.'

'I will. Goodnight… and I'm sorry I can't get the technique right.'

Orochimaru laid a fatherly hand on Sasuke's shoulder. 'You will,' he said. 'I have faith in you, my boy.' With that, he walked off to bed.

Sasuke sighed heavily before packing up his books and exiting the lab. He walked quietly down the corridor to the huge room where the trained snakes lived. As he opened the door, a hundred pairs of reptilian eyes turned towards him, before being lowered in reverence. Sasuke controlled all of them, better than Orochimaru did, but his favourite was not in the main room. No, he lived in a room all by himself.

Sasuke walked through the mass of snakes, breathing in their cold scent, and reached the sealed door at the back of the room. It was a barred gate, with a tiny paper seal over the door. On the seal was the kanji for 'demon'. As he approached, something slammed up against the bars and hissed. 'Easy, Raiko.' Sasuke knelt down and bowed his head. 'It's me.'

'Master…' Raiko bowed his head down to Sasuke's level, and looked at the boy with his huge yellow eyes. 'Please… can you let me free yet?'

Sasuke reached through the bars and stroked the snake's smooth black skin, running his fingers over the scales. Raiko was possessed, the same demon that dwelt within Orochimaru residing in his sleek, hundred foot long body. He wasn't dangerous, but he was frustrated at being locked up until Orochimaru had worked out how to stop the demon breaking through and making the snake a killing machine. Raiko was young, impetuous and disobedient, but Sasuke had befriended the giant reptile and updated him on the jutsu's progress. 'I don't know how it's coming,' Sasuke said. 'I know he works on it every day. He's missing something, but he can't work out what it is.'

Raiko hissed. 'I know what he's missing,' he said, flicking his tongue out. 'He can't find the right mantra to seal the demon. He's done everything else. He needs to find the spell – it's the same one that sealed him when he was a baby.'

'It was too late for him,' Sasuke said, absently stroking the snake's nose. 'They should have sealed him when he was born, like they did to Naruto. They waited until he was nearly two years old – that's why he looks the way he does. The demon managed to hold its form in him. That's why he will never age normally. It's not the body swaps that keep him young. It's the demon. It won't let him die.'

'I don't want to turn white,' Raiko said. 'I like being black.'

Sasuke laughed. 'You look great,' he said, with a chuckle. 'I'll come tomorrow with some food. I have things to do.'

'Bring mice!' Raiko called, to Sasuke's retreating back.

Sasuke grinned fondly as he walked out of the snake room and locked the door. He padded down the corridor and checked the front door was locked. As he was checking the door, he noticed a scroll sitting on the mat. It had a mark he was familiar with on the seal – the mark of Konoha. Mystified, he picked it up and unrolled it. What did Konoha want, sending scrolls to the Sound village? When it was open, he read what was written.

One single word, written in a hand he was all too familiar with, a scruffy, clumsy hand that belonged to a boy with cornflower blue eyes.

HELP.


End file.
